U.S. leaders hope that more of the estimated 13,862 African-American college students in Indiana – as well as high school graduates – will consider the health care field when choosing a career or a course of study. According to 2000 Census figures – the most recent available – there are 175 Black medical doctors in Indianapolis. Experts believe more Black doctors, nurses and other health professionals would help to improve treatment and reduce the rate of cancer and other diseases among African-Americans.
Allie Carson is a nurse practitioner in Indianapolis who helps direct young people into the nursing field.
“This is an excellent time for African-Americans to go into the health care field,” said Carson, 57. “It can only help minority communities if there are more faces in the field that patients can relate to and see.”
Studies have shown that African-American health professionals are more likely to serve in areas with a shortage of medical care options, such as inner cities and rural towns.
Those studies were cited by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in April when it released a plan to improve health among minorities.
The plan calls for:
(1) Creating a “pipeline program” to educate undergraduate minority students to encourage careers in public health and biomedical sciences.
(2) Increasing education and training for low-income people to use for jobs in the health care field.
(3) Increasing the diversity and communications skills of people who work in clinics.
(4) Training teams of clinicians, faculty and students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The plan builds on similar goals in the Affordable Care Act, signed into law last year by President Barack Obama. The law created Health Professional Opportunity Grants to assist groups that serve minority communities. It also provided $1.5 billion to expand the National Health Service Corps, which places health professionals in communities where medical care is hard to come by.
Linda Ellis, Indianapolis correspondent for the Ozioma News Service, contributed to this story.
Ozioma is a cancer news service based in Missouri. It is funded by the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md.
